Arrests have been made in Pop Smoke’s murder investigation five months after the rapper was fatally shot in his home. According to TMZ, the Los Angeles Police Department arrested five males on Thursday morning (July 9) in connection with his death.
The outlet reports that law enforcement served multiple search warrants in the Los Angeles area and arrested five people on the warrants. Three of the suspects are adults and two of them are juveniles. All five suspects are set to be interviewed by the police and booked in jail.
According to a statement from the Los Angeles Police Department issued to XXL, “[the] search and arrest warrants were served at several locations in Los Angeles and the warrants were all related to the February 19 murder of Bashar Jackson.”
The statement also noted that the three adult males and two juvenile males are in custody with the department’s robbery and homicide division.
The arrests mark the first update in Pop’s murder investigation in months after his case was reportedly delayed due to the ongoing pandemic. The rapper was tragically shot and killed inside a rental home in Hollywood Hills, CA on Feb. 19 in what appeared to be a home invasion.
As reported by REVOLT, surveillance footage previously showed that four individuals approached Pop’s house around 4:30 a.m. Authorities described the suspects as wearing hoodies and masks. Multiple shots were fired within the house and two struck Pop. The 20-year-old was pronounced dead at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in West Hollywood later that morning. An official autopsy report revealed he died from a gunshot wound in the torso and his death was ruled a homicide.
After his death, LAPD Head of the Robbery-Homicide Division Capt. Jonathan Tippet said that the department had ruled out that Pop’s killing was solely motivated by robbery. However, he hadn’t ruled out that robbery might have played a factor in the home invasion and was examining other possible motives.